Shame on the peeper, and thanks to all of the men and women in blue, who often serve us beyond what we might expect, to the point of genuine sacrifice.

I salute Officer Richard Takach and wish him and his loved ones the protection that God surely must give to those who serve us during these hard times — in particular, when he and his fellow officers don’t even have security in their jobs as cities across the land lay them off during budget squeezes.

-- Michael Donnelly,
Hamilton

Both mayors should step down

I’m responding to the letter “Hamilton Dems’ shoe is on the other foot” (July 29), where the writer comments that, while Sen. Linda Greenstein (D-Monroe) and John Kroschwitz, former chairman of the Hamilton Democratic Committee, wrote letters to the editor calling for the resignation of Hamilton Township Mayor John Bencivengo, they have not called for the resignation of Mayor Tony Mack of Trenton, who is under investigation by the FBI. Perhaps the writer does not realize that while Hamilton Township is part of New Jersey’s 14th Legislative District, which Sen. Greenstein represents, Trenton is part of the 15th Legislative District and not represented by Sen. Greenstein.

The writer also fails to mention that even Republican Gov. Chris Christie has called for the resignation of Mayor Bencivengo, who has been investigated by the FBI, indicted by a grand jury and arraigned on those charges. Mayor Tony Mack is under investigation and has not yet been charged.

That said, I am a Democrat, but I do agree with Gov. Chris Christie that holding elected office is a privilege, not a right, and we should hold our elected officials to a higher standard. Therefore, Democratic Mayor Tony Mack should resign, just as Republican Mayor John Bencivengo should resign. The citizens of Hamilton and Trenton have been let down by these elected officials, and the citizens should be permitted to choose their replacements.

-- Charlene Martucci,
Hamilton

Demolition would be ‘monumental’ mistake

I have been following the story about the beautiful landscape art in Trenton, “Public art vs. public safety — Large landscape sculpture, called a danger, could be demolished” (July 27), in the courtyard of the Department of Environmental Protection headquarters, that some want to demolish, spending money to do so, and install another landscape type in its place — spending more money to do so. They are using the “hazard” and “economic hardship” cards as the basis for spending more money that will go into someone else’s pocket! The thinking behind all of this just adds to the embarrassment of the normal residents of New Jersey, who are hearing stories from Trenton about FBI raids, Trenton Mayor Tony Mack, etc.

The site of the sculpture should be on the “be sure to see when visiting Trenton” list. (There aren’t too many of those.) As for constructing a rain garden, that should be incorporated when building new structures, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles building on Route 1 in Lawrence.

At an average cost of $3.50 per gallon, that equaled about 2,000 gallons. If each fill-up averaged 25 gallons, that means he committed about 80 separate crimes against every taxpaying citizen of the state. And for that he got a slap on the wrist and a pension and he can live happily ever after.

Now, the front-page article “’Death race’ trooper pair could get prison time” (July 28) states that the two troopers involved in the high-speed escort of several sports cars down the Garden State Parkway in March will be charged criminally. Was it a criminal act or just a dumb, stupid, thoughtless act (which I believe it was)? Yes, it was dangerous, but thank goodness it did not result in any accidents or injuries, as happened when Gov. Jon Corzine’s driver exceeded 91 mph on the Garden State Parkway in 2007. Should the troopers be punished? Perhaps they should forfeit a couple months’ pay, but they should not be charged criminally and should not lose their career or pensions. If that happens, it will be a travesty.

If stupidity is an indictable crime, we better start building more prisons. We have an awful lot of people in Washington, D.C., who would qualify to be indicted and put in prison.

-- Elmer M. Smith,
Hopewell Township

Judges make absurd argument

I write in response to the letter “Just compensation” (July 27). It’s very hard to understand the New Jersey Supreme Court judges’ philosophy about their salaries and their benefit contributions (“Jersey voters a step closer to deciding judges’ benefits cost,” July 27).

The judges argue that their salaries (which cannot be reduced for life — oh, that we all had that guarantee) are being reduced by increasing their benefits contributions. Why not, as all other salaried state employees must? The fact that higher benefit contributions reduce their salaries is false. It only affects their take-home pay, the same as it does for all salaried people.

“Gross salary“ and ”take-home pay“ are not synonymous. Arguing that they are is ridiculous and not even worthy of consideration. If their benefit contribution would amount to 10 percent (or $17,000), that means their lifetime annual guaranteed salary must now be at least $170,000, plus perks. Not too shabby. As long as they remain on the proper gross salary scale, benefit collections do not reduce their salary.

The American people are getting wise to present-day politicians clamoring for more gun-control laws. The only things keeping us away from tyranny are the Second Amendment and the NRA.

We are not armed because we are free; we are free because we are armed.

-- Lou Raymond,
Columbus

Photo unbecoming the governor

On last Sunday’s Page 4, there was a picture of Gov. Chris Christie associated with the “Mostly True” article “Fellow gov lands a jab on Christie and pensions” (July 29). The picture in the printed edition had the governor looking like he was in the first stages of changing to the wolfman, with something like stubble or hair around his chin and face. Also, the picture showed dark hair on his left wrist. The picture was in color and his hair was messed up. I think The Times could have found a better picture of our governor.